Christian Maturity – Part IV – Parents

Christian Maturity – Part IV – Parents
Children are gifts from God and they are the heritage of the Lord. Parents are the key to maturity in the lives of their children.

What this means is that the wounds of the parents must be healed before they can become healthy parents raising healthy children. Parents who have become adults can make a home where more adults grow up. Parents who are fearful and/or insecure produce more of the same and their lack of adulthood is passed to the next generation.

Father – father is the key to the family. He must be absolutely honest and a man of total integrity. He must be a man of the Word and the Spirit of God. There must never be even a hint of infidelity or abuse or neglect in his life. He must discipline fairly and carefully. He must not provoke his children to anger. He will raise them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. He must be a Spiritual leader. He must build discipline into the children God gives to him by ordering his home with respect and protection for the family in every way.

Mother – mother is the heart of the family. She sets the tone for the entire family and the home. She meets the needs of each person. Her gracious and kind spirit makes the home a place of hospitality for family, friends, and strangers. She teaches her children to work and develop skills for homemaking. Her cheerful countenance and pleasant voice bring God’s peace to all who enter her doors. Her willing cooperation with her husband sets the tone for harmony for all. A mother’s touch brings healing and blessing to all the family.

When parents are not healthy – secrets, suspicions, immaturity, insecurity, ego-centric behaviors – the home can be the saddest place on earth and the children grow older without really growing up and becoming mature and healthy individuals socially, emotionally, and Spiritually.

When parents are healthy – no secrets, no suspicions, mature living – the home is the sweetest place on earth and the children can grow up to make healthy decisions and choices and raise healthy generations after them. Love flows and grace abounds and discipline sets the stage for healthy and happy persons who are models in the community and the church and the nation.

Most children grow up believing that their home was normal whether it was ‘normal’ or not. The children eventually come of age and make their own decisions. At that time they become responsible for their decisions. They must honor their parents for the blessing that they were/are and choose healthy role models in places where their parents were not.

Cycles can be broken. Children can make good choices in the face of wrong and sin. In this way, children can grow up to be healthy parents when God brings that opportunity and responsibility to them.